Category: Government Actions

New DCL Eschews Disparate Impact (August 19, 2026)

On August 18, 2026, The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague letter (DCL), providing school discipline guidance for district leaders, rebuffing previous attempts to reduce discipline disparities for Black and other historically marginalized students and calling for schools to “stop racial balancing.”

According to the letter “neither Title VI nor the Constitution requires the use of race in student discipline” and “neither Title VI nor the Constitution prohibits unintentional disparate impact; nor do they require schools to consider race in student discipline to address an unintentional disparate impact.” The DCL also says ”it is race discrimination under Title VI for the school to evaluate the racial outcomes of their discipline policies and to make decisions based on or because of those racial outcomes.″

While DCLs provide guidance for school districts and convey the USDE’s enforcement approach to civil rights laws, they do not have the force of regulation or formal policy.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Kindergarten Vaccination Rates Continue Downward Trend

CDC data released August 17, 2026 shows that in 2025-26, vaccination coverage among kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines compared to the previous year. In fact, the rate of kindergartners entering school exempt from one or more vaccines continued its upward trend during the 2025-26 school year, with 4.2% of kindergartners being exempted — up from 3.6% in the previous year, according to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccine exemption rates for these young students increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia, and 24 states reported exemptions exceeding 5%.

Further, about 280,000 kindergartners attended school without documentation of completing the MMR vaccine last school year, CDC said. The number of reported measles cases for people of all ages already reached a 35-year high nationally by July 30th of this year.

An August 10, 2026 executive order reduced the number of immunizations to provide protection against 11 diseases, rather than the 18 diseases recommended by CDC in 2024.

According to the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) in an August 11, 2026 statement, conflicting vaccine recommendations can “create confusion for families, complicate school health practice, and undermine confidence in vaccines that have protected generations of children.” The statement came after an August 10, 2026 executive order reduced the number of immunizations to provide protection against 11 diseases, rather than the 18 diseases recommended by CDC in 2024.

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Report: Proposed Head Start Changes Would Adversely Affect Children (August 19, 2026)

According to a report by the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University, which included a 50-state policy analysis of state childcare licensing standards, as researchers compared states’ licensing standards to existing federal Head Start quality standards they found the quality of early care and learning programs with regard to state standards is too often not aligned with best practices and research. In fact, the report claims that proposed changes in federal standards by the Trump administration would result in most toddlers experiencing worse adult-to-child ratios and only two states would meet Head Start lead teacher qualification requirements. The report also revealed that if Head Start programs would began to follow state childcare licensing standards instead of the federal performance quality standards that have been in place for years, only five states would require Head Start centers to be accessible to children with disabilities, only about a third of states would require programs to accommodate children with disabilities in classroom activities, and there would be uneven implementation of disciplinary approaches whereby some states would  allow or not explicitly ban abusive language, rest-related punishment, physical restraint, and locked or dark-room timeouts.

The report also found that “high-quality early childhood experiences are unevenly distributed, varying based on state, program type, funding stream, and zip code.” It also avers that “State licensing answers one question: What is the minimum set of standards required so children are not in danger? By contrast, Head Start asks: What conditions produce lifelong improvements for children’s development, health, learning, and family well-being?”

For more details from K-12 Dive, click here.

FCC Comment Period Now Open: E-rate’s Future Is in Question (August, 17, 2026)

E-rate, which provides discounted internet services to build connectivity for schools, gave $10.5 billion to districts between 2021 and 2025.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun to accept public comment on a proposed rule weighing changes to, including the discontinuance, of the federal E-rate program. The E-rate program, which provides discounted rates for internet services to schools and libraries, began in 1996 when President Bill Clinton signed the bipartisan Telecommunications Act.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a year prior to its passage only 8% of public school classrooms had internet access. By 2003, 93% of public school classrooms had internet access. Most recently, between 2021 and 2005, $10.5 billion in federal funds to school districts came from E-rate, making E-rate the fifth largest source of federal funds for schools. In fact, almost 25,000 entities including districts, schools, consortiums and libraries received funds during that period.

FCC’s proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2026, asks if E-rate policy changes are needed in light of concerns over screen time in schools or whether the program “should be limited or sunset” given “today’s extensive connectivity rates.” The public comment period closes October 13, 2026.

Source: K-12 Dive.

CISA Provides Free K-12 Cybersecurity Guides for Schools (August 16, 2026)

As schools face the challenges of cyber vulnerability and limited resources, on August 12, 2026 the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a free collection of K-12 cybersecurity resources to help school and district leaders mitigate and respond to their unique cyber risks.

The CISA resources include two guides: The first aims to give school leaders the basic foundations for developing and improving K-12 cybersecurity programs, and the other is designed for K-12 cybersecurity leaders to find ways to sustain their approaches to cyber defense.

CISA and other federal resources have faced significant funding disruptions and staff cuts under the Trump administration, creating an uncertain future for the high-level support that cash-strapped schools desperately need.

As reported by K-12 Dive, the new CISA guidance reports advise K-12 school and cybersecurity leaders to implement the following objectives to strengthen their networks:
-Protect the login credentials of students and staff.
-Safeguard student and staff devices.
-Perform, verify and test backups.
-Create and practice a cyber incident response plan.
-Tap into available cybersecurity training and awareness campaigns.
-Protect sensitive data.
-Prioritize and invest in strategies outlined in the full list of applicable CISA Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals.
-Develop a customized long-term cybersecurity plan that leans on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.